Here are the best articles from across the web that I can find on using stories and storytelling in business.

And visit my website for more information about my speaking, writing, coaching, consulting, and workshops at www.juststoryit.com

Karen Dietz's insight:

Editorial Statement For This Collection:

Thank you for visiting this curation of articles on business storytelling. I've chosen them because they actually make a contribution to our knowledge and wisdom about stories, show us how to apply stories to growing our businesses, or give valuable how-to tips.

I weed out all the junk. And besides, who needs another post in why storytelling is important?? Where's the beef?? We want the meat!

Based on my 25+ years of biz story experience, (plus a PhD in Folklore) I've written reviews of each article to share what I like best, what you can get from reading the article, or what may be missing in the article.

How To Find A Topic:Click on the Filter icon above (look for the 'funnel' shape), and view the tags. Select one that interests you, or type in a keyword in the search box. All the articles with that tag or keyword will appear.

I may occasionally review an article that I think is problematic as a way to educate us all, although most I will simply pass over. If you wonder if I've seen an article that is not included here, send me a message and I'll respond.

How To Suggest An Article: If you find an article you think I'll be interested in, click the 'Suggest' button above, past the URL of the article, and I will receive it. Or write me a comment with the URL by clicking on 'Reactions' at the bottom of any article. You will see where can post a comment, which I will also receive.

I trust you find many great insights and tips here. Many thanks for visiting and enjoy the articles!

And I hope you will also visit my website for more tips and tools, & take the free Story IQ assessment so you can see how well developed your storytelling skills and knowledge is: http://juststoryit.com/story-IQ.htm

What happens when old school goes head to head with new school in a battle of speed and wits? Leonard Nimoy takes on newbie Zachary Quinto and his all-new Au...

Karen Dietz's insight:

I'm a huge Star Trek fan. I've watched all the episodes, the movies, spinoffs, and reruns. I am so sad at the death last week of Leonard Nimoy who played the character Spock.

As I was trolling the internet for remembrances, imagine my delight when I stumbled across this Audi ad featuring Nimoy and the younger version of Spock played by Zachary Quinto in the latest Star Trek movies.

Forget the Budweiser Super Bowl ads! This is now my all-time favorite. It's fabulous storytelling and not to be missed. We kept playing it this weekend and laughing again and again. There are great lessons here on business storytelling, too: humor, drama, surprise, great characters, etc.

If you've never heard of Star Trek (as I'm experiencing in my workshops these days) you might not get all the jokes. If you are a fan, you will have a great time.

Interesting video from business consultant Karen Dietz. This Audi ad is prices as the old Mr. Spock (the late Leonard Nimoy) matches wits with the new Mr. Spock (Zachary Quinto) in this funny commercial. Priceless! Aloha, Russ.

In New York's Red Hook, citizens have taken connectivity into their own hands.

Karen Dietz's insight:

I love love love this story -- and the visual storytelling makes me cranky cranky cranky. It's a great example of what NOT to do.

What's the story?

Did you know that there are parts of New York City -- yes NYC! -- where people can't get access to the Internet?

Yeah, that was a shocker to me too. The mountains of Appalachia or the wilds of rural Montana -- I can see that. But not NYC.

So here's a story about how a community solved that problem for themselves. It's brilliant! As you read the story you'll be applauding resident's ingenuity, solutions, and results.

Now -- what is making me so cranky? Well, the video shared is great. But the rest of the photos accompanying this post? Very biased and they only perpetuate stereotypes -- abandoned buildings, bleakness, bars. And oh, BTW -- this post is about people but there are NONE in the photos. What's up with that??!!

The photos are beautiful. But they tell me more about the biases of photographer and the writer who included them than about Red Hook and its residents. I did a quick search on Google for images of Red Hook NY and found plenty. From those photos I got a much better sense of the community that showed the complete picture.

What gives me the right to be so cranky? I spent 3 years with anthropologist Dr. Ray Birdwhistell in the use of photography for understanding a group or culture. Those 3 years were all about how to remove your own biases from the camera lense so you could really see what's going on.

The photos here really do a disservice to Red Hood and its residents. Now no one is perfect and we all make mistakes. But this is a little too blatant. I'm sure the author was under a crunch deadline and grabbed photos from Flickr in a rush instead of just being lazy. I'm sure the photographer (yonijrj) took these photos for his/her own purposes, never intending these consequences. I am dismayed at the end result, however.

So here are a few simple rules for effective visual storytelling in your articles:

If your post is about people, show people!

Use photographs with clear intent and mindfulnes.

Be aware of your own stereotypes and biases as best you can so you are not blindly promoting them.

Know that photos have consequences. Use them wisely.

Make sure the photos you select really reflect the emotional core and key message of the story.

Lead nurturing is the process of building effective relationships with potential customers throughout the buying journey. Lead nurturing happens across multiple channels, and for your communications…

Karen Dietz's insight:

This is brilliant! And makes perfect sense. We think in stories. We talk in stories. We organize our lives as narratives. But I hadn't thought about how to apply what we know about narrative to managing business leads. But "Duh!" It's a no-brainer.

So Marketo.com came up with this fab infographic that brings lead nurturing into a narrative arc, and applies story elements to their lead tracking model to make it stick.

Thanks Marketo! I hope all you readers get a kick out of this, and apply this model to gain more business.

Some groups are adopting a storytelling genre that focuses on how communities rebuild and recover after natural disasters and other difficult times.

Karen Dietz's insight:

I've written before about news stories using a structure (the pyramid with the key message/details in the first paragraph) that is the direct opposite of classical storytelling (inverse pyramid with key message at the end). So I was fascinated by this article that talks about how and why news stories need to change -- and the role business and nonprofit stories can play.

I love the concept of 'restorative stories' as an antidote to the newsfeeds. And the call to news organizations to tell better stories. The role of nonprofits and business? To craft 'restorative stories' as a way to build visibility, advance their vision/mission, grow, and make a difference in the world. Makes perfect sense to me.

So the question is -- are you telling restorative stories? Read the article to find out. Great points are made here, along with concrete steps to take. Yeah!

The way to make your content appealing, shareable, build a following, etc. is through storytelling. No storytelling? That's like having an Oreo cookie without the yummy center. Flat. ALL of your content should be telling stories.

So we are going along, crafting better stories and (hopefully) growing the biz. That's a lot of blood, sweat, and tears. And occasional jubilation :)

But how do you know if all that storytelling effort is actually driving sales? I want to see this mystery solved. Neil Patel at KISSmetrics to the rescue. He gives us tips, tools and his own experience to know if conversions and sales are actually happening. And what to do if they are not.

It's great that he shares with us his own journey and stats for how blogging has grown his business, and how we can too with the variety of tools he tells us about.

Steps to take?

Read the post

Check out the tools and figure out which ones are best for your biz, or the best to suggest to clients

It's Valentines Day tomorrow so let's get to the heart of the matter about business storytelling.-- Created using PowToon -- Free sign up at http://www.powtoon.com/jo...

Karen Dietz's insight:

What a perfect time to celebrate the link between Valentines Day and business storytelling (it's all about the heart)!

And art :))

We get so caught up in the rough-and-tumble world of winning business, it is easy to overlook that stories are an art form. This means that the 21st century cutting edge business skills of design, creativity, flow, and collaboration are all hidden gems within storytelling just waiting to be mined.

This Monday I was working with a client. Their company is littered with stories. Yet the CEO was lamenting, "What stories do we have to tell??!! I can't think of a single one!"

The problem was quickly fixed, and it is a common one my clients tell me about. So imagine my delight when this morning I receive the latest newsletter from my biz story colleague Shawn Callahan, CEO of Anecdote. His latest blog post is all about how to notice stories.

He's got some great tips in this quick article. Even better, scroll down to gain additional insights addressing other issues in business storytelling.

In coaching and workshops I always spend time on "the art of the question". Shawn has developed a great resource. Some of the questions use classic story prompts. Others might take an additional question or two to get to the story. Regardless, go grab this now and start using it.

Success stories are effective to use as proof and reinforcement late in the buying cycle once a customer has already formed a complete buying vision that fully recognizes “why change?” and “why you?

Karen Dietz's insight:

My story selling colleague Michael Harris writes an insightful article here about the dangers of relying on success stories to make a sale.

Oh, success stories have their place. But are way overused. In fact, in sales, success stories are often offered as the only kind of story to tell. So I like this article because adds much more to our understanding about using stories in sales -- and business success.

Here Harris goes through 6 reasons why success stories don't often work. You can take each of his tips for integrating better storytelling into your sales efforts. What you share will be more relevant to customers, and actually close the deal.

OK -- here's the second Friday Fun piece I promised you. This one will tug at your heart strings.

I couldn't stop watching this ad video -- at 6 minutes log! It's fabulous storytelling. When I started, I'm thinking to myself, "Yeah, right -- I wonder how long I'll last before I get bored." I was hooked though and was amazed 6 minutes flew by so fast. Talk about being engrossed.

There are actually 3 stories interwoven here. The piece is by Cartier jewelry for Valentines Day. It's very targeted brand storytelling. So far it's working for me!

National Storytelling Week (Sat 31 Jan to Sun 8 Feb) was set up by the Society for Storytelling 15 years ago and aims to promote the oral tradition of storytelling; celebrating our most ancient art form.

I always advocate for oral storytelling in business because of the critical skills people learn that go way beyond making a sale (although that's important, too). Skills like better communication, visual language and design, leadership, transformation, thinking on your feet, customer connection, word of mouth marketing, etc. I could go on and on.

It takes longer to learn these skills through writing. I'm all about finding hacks (maximum return with less time) for greater efficiencies. Storytelling is a great hack for all kinds of purposes.

Of course it takes time to learn oral story skills! But it's all about taking the time now to build those skills so you can go fast later.

“A new world requires new stories, but people will only listen to them when they themselves are included in the storyline.”

Karen Dietz's insight:

What a thoughtful, rich, and informative article this is! Yes, it's about what needs to happen in storytelling for social change to happen. But the author, Simon Hodges in the UK, makes a strong case that the same points apply to business as well.

In fact, they apply to anyone who desires to inspire people to make a change. Any leader, marketer, brander, or social change activist will be better equipped to use stories to advance business or a cause after reading this. This is because the author doesn't focus on plot, characters, emotions or other story mechanics -- but on precious story dynamics instead.

For my part in the 2014 Future of Storytelling Summit, I had the pleasure of collaborat

Karen Dietz's insight:

Maria Popova of Brainpickings @brainpicker just posted this about the role and function of storytelling in our lives (and business) and it is awesome. What a great way to begin the week!

Popova has made a 4.34 minute animated video essay to go along with her post. In the blog and video she talks about the difference between information, knowledge and wisdom. Turns out storytelling is what converts information into knowledge that then turns into wisdom.

Read the article and watch the video to understand what she means by information, knowledge, and wisdom. And to discover how storytelling fits in. People are starved for knowledge and wisdom is often overlooked. When companies/nonprofits feed the hunger for both, growth happens.

BTW -- everyone carries nuggets of wisdom within them. Storytelling is how we access that wisdom and share it with others. In turn we discover the wisdom others carry by listening to their stories. In that way all of our wisdom grows. This applies to business as well as personal life. What wisdom are you carrying?

Here's another fab resource for everyone interested in business storytelling. Story professional Lianne Picot @verygoodstories has been interviewing some of the best minds in the storytelling field about how and why story works, applications for stories, and concrete how-to steps.

This link is to her radio show where you can find the links to each interview. Like "What's Your Money Story?" with business author Mike Michalowicz. Wow -- now that's a critical but overlooked story any business person needs to dig into if they want more success.

Or, "Creating An Emotional Connection". Easy to say, tougher to do. Again, this interview with Jonathan Bennett will help you develop compelling narratives supporting your strategic direction and engaging stakeholders.

All of the interviews are downloadable as MP3 files for your traveling pleasure. Thanks for helping us all Lianne!

Thanks to fellow curator @Karen Dietzfor finding this resource! She sums up what it's about really nicely in her review:

"Here's another fab resource for everyone interested in business storytelling. Story professional Lianne Picot has been interviewing some of the best minds in the storytelling field about how and why story works, applications for stories, and concrete how-to steps."

I go on about story sharing being the heart of effective storytelling. But what is that really? Here story colleague Cynthia Kurtz has written a brilliant -- and well thought out -- article on what story sharing is, how it happens, what it looks and feels like.

Even better, she puts it together in a game for us. Yay! Get your story game on. Read this post and get better and the dynamics of storytelling.

And many thanks go to @Gregg Morris for originally finding and sharing Cynthia's work. Thanks Gregg!

Today, leaders are looking to storytelling to help advance the work of the organization. Here's a look at some of the possibilities... and also an introducti...

Karen Dietz's insight:

Need a quick primer on the huge impact of storytelling on effective leadership? Then this 3 min. video is for you. It's a synopsis of how storytelling is critical for leadership that goes waaaaayyyyy beyond the just "tell your leadership journey" story.

I'm thrilled to be part of story colleague David Hutchen's new book coming out in the spring of 2015 called "The Circle of the 9 Muses". This intro video is not a typical dumb book promo. It contains value and shows how storytelling is mission critical for any enterprise and leader.

Your story needs to be told! But learning when, how, and to whom you share it will make your presentation better, and your audience happier.

Karen Dietz's insight:

In this post by Michelle Mazur makes a rare but very valid point about storytelling -- you share too much information because the story is still too raw.

In today's business world when everyone is shouting that telling your story will create trust, likeability, relationships, yadda yadda, it's refreshing when someone yells "Stop!"

Mazur shares with us experiences of "vulnerability hangovers", what they are, when they happen, and what to do about them.

This is a must read for any leader or business owner who is out there sharing their stories. Self disclosure is one thing. Sharing too much information (TMI) is another. Great storytelling is knowing how to walk that fine line and Mazur has good tips for us all.

Stop shooting yourself in the foot. Go read the article now to see if you are over-sharing, and how to reign yourself in for way better/more effective business storytelling.

In Ancient times, Cicero considered memory training to not just be a method, but a form of art....

Karen Dietz's insight:

Storytelling isn't about words, really. All trained storytellers know that the storyteller's job is to feed images to audiences. Image riding or image crafting, whatever you call it -- when we use words we are image writing.

Images are powerful, so it's no surprise visual storytelling is a hot topic. As this quick post shares, retention after 3 days for a text and a picture is 65%. Text and audio only? 10%

The next part of the post shares graphic facilitator Dan Roam's rules for what images to share based on the type of information you want to convey. Yeah! The complex is made simple :)

I also really like that this post is actually based on real research -- that's cited. So we know this is real.

CAVEAT: This post is about sharing information -- storifying information, in other words. I still -- after many years -- vividly remember stories I've heard from all kinds of storytellers (professional and not) and never a picture was shared. Yet those images/stories conveyed orally stick with me today.

So don't go thinking that every time you share a story, you have to show a picture or use PowerPoint. Not true. Except on the web.

So when the medium calls for images to accompany your stories -- use the visuals in this post to guide you.

Jeanne is the head of digital analytics at a large e-commerce company.

Karen Dietz's insight:

What a clear, concise post that takes the mystery out of sharing the story of data. The author, Bernard Segarria writing for the Digital Analytics blog, gives us a clear process for making all our data meaningful in presentations. Wahoo!

I am so thrilled with the advances we are making with data storytelling. Many more folks from different data worlds are writing good material for us all.

I hope you gain some valuable tips from this article. Enjoy the weekend!

Telling Your Story Via Content Curation--Best Practices

I am being asked more and more these days to talk about how to do content curation, and use it as a vehicle for telling your story. I am thrilled with these requests, because obviously I'm a firm believer in it :)

I learned best practices for content curation -- and how to tell my story through it -- from curation master Robin Good. Add to that lots of trial and error, correcting mistakes, and continual learning.

Here Robin shares the essence of great curation. Follow these principles and you too will be successful in providing value and telling your story through different Internet channels.

Oh, and BTW -- some of these same principles apply to blogging and other social media marketing.

There are shortcuts curation brings me in my marketing efforts that I wouldn't trade for the world. There are hacks to leverage. But I agree with Robin -- it takes time. There is no way around it.

Not everyone is suited for curation. I wish more people did it well.

Read Robin's principles and if you are ready, go for it! And don't hesitate to ask me any questions about curation, or about the Just Story It curation. I love to hear from you.

Many years ago, I was in the office of one of my former bosses for my annual review. He was very diplomatic and shared that he was happy with my work. When he asked me, “Do you have any questions?” By nature, I am big on adding the word self between the words –“constant improvement”. So, I replied...

My LinkedIn buddy Karthik Rajan put together this thoughtful post that gets to the heart of business success: listening for people's strengths and reflecting that back to them.

Sounds easy, or like a nice platitude. But Rajan shares a story that brings it to life, where we can see ourselves easily following his tip. Aha! Great storytelling is at work :)

OK -- but other than that, what has this post got to do with business storytelling??!!

Well, the best way evoke the best stories/qualities from people is to simply acknowledge the best of what you experience with them. Why? So they can experience their magnificence in your presence. And you can experience their magnificence when you are with them. Relationships spiral up, and so does the quality of work.

What does it cost you? Not much, as Rajan points out. In the end, by deeply listening you will discover amazing things about people. And about yourself, interestingly enough.

Of course, this is not a practice where you say one thing, and then turn around to say the opposite about a person behind their back. Someone did that to me recently. That's just lip service that we want to avoid that when we can.

I love story listening and appreciating the best about a person in return. It's a great way to be in a place of constant discovery, celebration, and heart. We can all do the tactical and practical. This other takes work -- but the rewards are great.

Go read the article, follow Rajan's advice, and get your story listening/appreciation gear on. You'll be glad you did :)

The original title of this article by Kathy Caprino for Forbes Magazine is "The 3 Most Powerful Ways To Change People Who Don't Want To Change". You'd never know that storytelling is the bedrock for all change.

Caprino is interviewing David Maxwell, one of the authors of a favorite book of mine, Influencer. Before social, personal, or structural can be leveraged to make a change, the dominating story needs to be dealt with first. Tips for how to do so are shared.

Go read the article. It makes tons of sense. Want change? Story it first.

Even better - it's a terrific example of using mashups integrated as part of a brand. Maybe it will give you ideas for your own work.

Watch the first video also which mixes rockin' celtic music with fast hip-hop dancing. For years I've been a big fan of art -- and storytelling -- that pushes boundaries. The short videos here are perfect examples.

Financial storytelling must present compelling information in a manner that will contribute to a company's securities achieving fair valuation.

Karen Dietz's insight:

This is a quick article with a really good point: not all storytelling is created equal.

Oh, we know that when comparing a great story to a so-so story. But the author of this post,GEOFFREY MOGILNER, points about how storytelling fits into the financial investor biz, and how to tell very specific stories. This is a very different kind of storytelling that what we usually find in marketing and biz storytelling articles.

Great to know! This article gives us more ideas about the best ways to tell your particular business stories. Go read it to see if these insights apply to you.

Sharing your scoops to your social media accounts is a must to distribute your curated content. Not only will it drive traffic and leads through your content, but it will help show your expertise with your followers.

Integrating your curated content to your website or blog will allow you to increase your website visitors’ engagement, boost SEO and acquire new visitors. By redirecting your social media traffic to your website, Scoop.it will also help you generate more qualified traffic and leads from your curation work.

Distributing your curated content through a newsletter is a great way to nurture and engage your email subscribers will developing your traffic and visibility.
Creating engaging newsletters with your curated content is really easy.